Japshow Finale '13 PICS!

[Lucky]

Despite that I actually died halfway through the day and had to go and have a nap in the car (this is actually true!) I managed to get a few pics that may or may not be worthy of sharing. So here they are!

Got some FDs. Funnily enough. In no particular order of significance or interest, lol...

"Fingers" Dickens' is always worth a shot, although I shudder to think how expensive the latest addition of genuine Amemiya bonnet vent carbon nostril fairings were!









Steve @ Edge Autmotive's certainly has presence. And fat wheels, lol.



Interior retrim, I understand, is a shop window and a great way of drawing in customers. Fantastic ability on display here, even if the leather colour is not to the taste of your humble correspondent, lol





Dunno who's this is, I just got seduced by the carbon fibre. Mmmmm, carbon...



Dunno who's this is either. It was the Amemiya horn button... To be fair, I was in no state to be meeting and greeting people, so apologies for not doing as much as I normally would to get to know new faces. In my defence, I had only very recently come back from the grave as zombies



Wing Commander Wood's chariot. I say, old bean, the ol' crates' starting to look rather wizard, what



*ahem* Marsey tax disc holder on a FDUK moderators' car? What the actual fduk?



Dunno who's this is. There's a trend emerging here, isn't there? Told you, I suck. Lovely colour though innit?





Laeeq's. Always worth a shot, too. Sorry I was dead when you spoke to me, dude. Apologies for not managing more than a couple of grunts



The only one I got of Paul's seems to be as he was leaving, but at least it shows off that FEED flügel flap, or whatever the hell it's called, lol



Mr RX Racers' car. Always like an FD in white. I always meant to have one and consistently fail. Love the carbon/LED rear light Amemiya thing. Proving that not everything from that stable looks like a horses' arse, lol







Dunno who's this is. It was parked in somewhere else. Nice to see an unadulterated Touring though, complete with full [FONT="Arial Black"]RED [/FONT]interior and sunroof and everything





Like a steely-eyed son of the desert, he gazes into the middle distance, perhaps in a zen-like trance envisaging victory, perhaps running over the minutae of car preparation to ensure nothing is overlooked in the quest for elusive tenths. Perhaps just fighting down a severe curry burp. Perhap myopia...

This is the weirdo who pounced on me a stole my gearknob before I'd even parked the car up. Stay away, do not approach if spotted. He may be dangerous!



MazdaSpeed starts with an MMMmmmm... just like Everything starts with an E



Mark hasn't been shy about getting to grips with the step up ...OK, step sideways... from FB to FD. I love this pic, the three real powerhouse titans of Japanese legend displaying their iconic rear ends for all to see





Not disgracing itself against the proportions of the NSX either, you'll note. Oh yeah, more NSX later



They call him... the Hawk da da da da da da dum... strikes without warning, appears magically in photos where no-one was before, etc etc



Of course, not all FDUKers were rocking FDs. Tommo's MX is... well, it's very Tommo, really...



Like a steely-eyed son of th... no, done that one. Errrrm, he might have accidentally just leaned on his "OFF" button again, actually.



Jay's Stagea was just effortlessly cool, even down to the way it obstinately broke down on the M25 on the way up. Far and away the best and most innovative use of a Nissan shopping bus and a Lexus V8 any demeneted mad genius could ever envisage...

[Lucky]

I was hoping to be up in my FB, even harbouring insane optimism of throwing it into the show and shine without it looking too embarrassing. It wasn't to be, of course, due to an act of God two days before snapping the steering column in half. OK, it was actually an act of Ada, which is less divine but no less destructive. So I had to take the FD who responded by loosening the manifold nuts and/or cracking the mani again, thus ending the day a lot louder than it started. I love rotaries, me. And it's just as well...

However, this didn't deter me from parking on the Exile stand, who were kind enough to accommodate my vulgar modern plastic car. As always, Exile was small but perfectly formed with impressive variety. Dave's TWR FB is always worth a look





Can't be many UK club stands that have featured three FCs together! (despite the use of the word "Club" in its name, I don't consider Marsey to be a club, obviously)



Garath's white beauty is all the better for not having a "Red Suns" decal on the rear flank, lol. Good to meet new blood in the rotary world, and respect to the dude's automotive skills



I seem to have failed to get a whole shot of Markus' FC but I did at least take a vid of him setting a 13 second time, despite hanging like the gardens of Babylon, lol. It sneaked into this pic of Tim's FB anyway...



....which is perhaps a bit odd as Tim wasn't there, despite his car being. Always good to sample Matty's unique spin on the world though, hope I didn't just give anything away and Tim's suddenly twigged why he was sure the car was parked the other way round when he left it!



Very on-trend to have decals down the windscreen, but of course many people do take the easier, non-hardcore option of sticking them on the side they don't look out of. (It's LHD, in case you thought I'd lost my last few marbles). Timmers... bringing you the hardest way since the early 70s lol



I'd still sell several reasonably important parts of my anatomy to get hold of an RX-3. Sadly, it gets more remote a chance with every year so I have to content myself with sexpesting those lucky enough to already own one









MR TOOL wasn't deigning to mix with the hoi Paloi on the stand, but instead was swanning around in the Show and Shine. Jealous? Moi? To be fair, the likelihood of parking up next to another Herschel Orange RX-2 coupe are pretty limited!. I took quite a few pics of it, for which I make no apologies. If a proper original condition twin-dizzy 10A powered '2 coupe doesn't get your juices flowing then that's your problem, not mine, lol





















Of course, those of us who park our cars up to tart around and bask in reflected glory aren't the only rotary presence at these dos. Let's hear it for those track warriors representing in the Jap drag series, shall we? Liam's Hayward-built car certainly attracts attention with its lairy paint and ridiculous noise. And Liam's still getting to grips with it and bravely driving it around any problems



I think once it went out (in the semis) he just took it up the strip in the RWYB anyway. Becos race car



Rob "pottering" his way through a bye. Still a launch most of us would be happy with in our street cars, lol



Proving that competition cars can be as beautifully finished and with just as good a fit and finish as any road car, when done properly! A testament to the Regs when this is all self-funded and home-built, not the output of a big-money garage or a open chequebook import from the Far East



Gotta say, one feared for Rob being up against that ridiculously fast RIPS-built Skyline... how much was it, quarter of a million?... but the beauty of racing is... well, it's racing!



This is what a real launch looks like. The legendary Blackshaw reactions-of-a-mongoose superpower meant the big Datsun was done off the line and no matter how quick it came back, it wasn't getting past. A well-deserved win to Rob



and even though this is technically a crap photo I wanted to leave it in because I think it gets the whole vibe across pretty well!



and this is what victory looks like...

[Lucky]

Right, that's the rotary interest over, it's all weird reciprocating stuff from now. Anyone who's interest stops here can potter off and have a nice cup of tea instead of reading on. I'll have milk, no sugar, ta. Anyone still out there? Cool, let's crack on then. Some other stuff wot caught my eye, in no especial order...

There was plenty of other drag action, not only RWYB but also the front-wheel-drive series. Which admittedly features lots of Civics and therefore the most hateful noise in the automotive world, that of a tuned Hahhhnda engine. But they are undeniably impressive things and I love the funny back-to-frontness of their odd world





Got dish? Errr... on the front



the rears are like prams wheels! Must take ages drilling all that disc away, lol



Funny how the screamers come out in front of the windscreen, I always find that slightly odd. Cool, but scary







That's one hell of a big turbo for an N/A car, too!



Of course, they aren't the only professional drag acts around on the day. I sacrificed my hearing to bring you this pic, lol. Even with the drawstrings of my hoodie wedged in my lugholes, this thing is LOUD



Never did find out what was rolling this Golf along. I assume it wasn't a humble VW 8-valver, but something suitably Japanese.



I think when people call MX-5s "girl's cars" it's meant to be an insult. This girl seems to prove otherwise...



One of two old skool Zed-cars that seemed to have been invaded by modern Toyota JZ engine powahs. Fine fit and finish, too



This thing...



...is just ridiculous...



...all ends up! Just stupidly fast. However, we Brits love the underdog and you can't help but revel in Schadenfreude seeing the homebrewed FD of Garage Reg win out against the stupendous cost that went into making this Datsun be able to rearrange time and space around itself. Still a bloody awesome car, make no mistake. Just not invulnerable



Nice to see a 200SX of any vintage that hasn't been nadgered up and reduced to pikey states of cable-ties and shattered fibreglass; ill-fitting bodykit dragging around the carparks and backlots of the doriftuuuu scene. In fact, this S15 seems to be a really well-made car and I have a lot of love for it. Well, maybe not love. Like, anyway, a lot of like



Of course, every show has its downside just as much as its upside. In the case of the Japanese car scene, this can be pretty low. I try not to be rude about people's cars (you never know if they're reading) but if you find you have to paint an otherwise perfectly respectable 300ZX in day-glo colours and still write "attention seeker" on it just in case people hadn't noticed, you might in all honestly be trying just a bit too hard. Plus, those indicators/sidelights make me actually slightly sick in my mouth and a bit dizzy from their pointblank refusal to obey any known law of Euclidean geometry. So shockingly on the piss even Madame le Jo commented on them. And she, as I'm sure she won't mind me saying, is a girl



In fact, Zeds seem to suffer quite badly from insensitive modification, judging by the attendance at the Finale. Plenty of really cool ones, but the shockers are... well, shocking. Of course, the winner of the Show and Shine was in fact a 350ZX, but it was pretty special



I didn't get a single external shot of it worth a damn but the details are impressive enough. Boot build must weigh a bit!



I mean, it's not to my taste but I appreciate the work. Especially since the old boy who owns and built it is a really nice dude, does all his own work and puts plenty of vision into it. And he has a Greek villa on one of the islands and has an Evil Eye charm on the dash. Rather like the one hanging from my FB rearview mirror, in fact. Only more ornate



Apparently the car is his daily driver, and it's not garaged either. He must cry himself to sleep every time he hears the rain at night







The only bit that really upset me was the proliferation of vents down the wing. For me, the Ventiports would have been plenty on their own. And Mini vents don't really even look very nice on Minis. But y'know, I don't expect anyone else to agree with me, lol



LOADS of Supra around. Loads of them. Thousands, seemingly.



Funnily enough, two of only three makes of car I ever really thought suited Veilside abominations are Toyotas. Dunno why, just seem to suit the wide-mouth guppy look





This is the other one...



The third marque is a Datsun;



Plenty of 350Zs are beginning to find their way onto the modified scene. A lot suffer from slightly too much shouting LOOK AT ME, but for me I think they really suit the low, squat wide-arch treatment. Maybe due to their rounded hunched profile, dunno





And some benefit from just being really clean and smooooooth

[Lucky]

An odd phenomena noticed and commented on by several people was the sheer number of these things;



I mean, if this is what you can do by saving money by living with mum and daddy until you're like thirty-eight years old, I might have to regret spreading my wings for a life of drug-and-drink-crazed hedonism as early as possible. No idea how people who look about twelve manage to afford 60-grand cars, but the only thing more shocking than how damned many R35s there were, was how young many of the owners seemed to be. Wha' appn?



Mmmm, everyone loves a bit of carbon dress-up. No?



Great plate! Drove like a boss, too. Nothing makes going stupidly quick as effortless as a GTR



I tried repeatedly to get this one "in the can" but every time it came out orange. In the real world (or what I believe to be the real world, I may have been lied to about it all these years) it was a great pearlescent salmon pink colour



See? Just doesn't come out right



I suck at photos, did I mention that?



Ahhh, balls to it. Here's a nice modern update to the archetypal Midnight Purple. Lovely flip purple, I only noticed it turned green after taking the pic of the line of snouts above. And then only when Madame le Jo pointed it out to me



Before this upstart wore the GTR badge was the original Gran Turismo generation computer-controlled supercar;



Funny to think of R34s as an "old Skyline". Guess that's progress for you. I know which I'd rather have...



...yep, an R33 GTR. Much nicer shape, lol. Mind, I do like the cataract air intake headlight vent



Nice to see a properly quick car where the owner doesn't take himself too seriously. I'm sure Valentino Rossi would approve





The owner of this S13 proudly told me that the metalflake in the paint never came out in photographs. So just to prove he was right, here's a picture to prove it;



Never mind. I love a nice bit of metalflake, me. *blush* such a child of the 70s lol



Some random old Toyotas I kinda liked depsite the fact their designer had apparently lost his protractor and French Curve and all he had left was a ruler. Of their time, shall we say? Convertible Celica must be a rare old thing, I'd have thought?









And one for Ada!



Pretty rare to see a 280ZX Turbo even back in the day, so it's nice to see one not only still alive but in the hands of an owner confident enough to put it in the Show and Shine



I liked the unusual combination of old Jap muscle on Halibrand(ish) Cobra-style wheels, too. Different!



And speaking of different wheel strategies, how about the drifter's weapon of choice on VIP hoops?



Admittedly there's not too much unusual about a Civic on shiny fashion wheels, but at least they're SHINY shiny wheels, lol



As a carbon fetishist at the best of times, this Evo had me frothing at the trousers!



Mitsubishi's 3000GT or GTO, depending which market they were (let's try to forget about the abomination of the Dodge Stealth for the sake of all our sanity, yeah?) is kinda the forgotten Japanese supercar. So much potential, often wasted on middle-aged potterers, and most petrolheads are scared away by overcomplexity and tales of desperate fragility. So it's nice to see plenty still being taken on by intrepid souls.



Believe me, if a serial rotary owner is put off a make of car over fears of reliability issues, it's a serious matter lol



See? So delicate even their airfilters have to wear socks. Weird K&N filter socks are weird. What's that all about?



Joking aside, I thing GTOs are great-looking cars and you can't argue with a twin turbo v6 3-litre. Although I wasn't aware there was a convertible option ever available, it looks like the sort of convertible where the original design team never anticipated it being made into a convertible. If you know what I mean?



I normally really like the styling of the GTOs little sister FTO... mainly because it looks like a slightly clumsily-drawn FD, I suppose. Plenty of these little buzzboxes around as well



Some sympathetically modded, some you'd think M*x P*wer had never gone the way of all flesh and was still alive and well and driving the "scene". But metalflake, now, I love metalflake, me



I wish people would either leave their bonnet shut or open it all the way.It's awfully hard with my old knees to keep trying to get shots into half-closed bonnets propped up on a can of energy drink or bathroom fittings, lol



Excellent!



Also excellent!



Always end on a high, as my old ballet teacher used to say. So here it is. Definitely one of the stand-out cars of the show, and how nice it was to see one being used hard. Tasteful mods, so also nice to see one being modded not just sequestered away in a slightly prissy fashion. Maybe bit quiet and "engineered" to ever set the mainstream alight, but I think most of us true petrolheads would jump at the chance to have one. What am I talking about? This, of course;



Everywhere it went this NSX drew a crowd, and rightly so. Really gorgeous car as stock made even more so by quality additions and alterations. I've a lot of time for this car and make no apologies for a wealth of pics, lol.









Want a bit more noise at the strip? Just undo the V-band and slip the back silencer box off. Cool as








That's me done then. As always, thanks for your company, good on you for sticking around till the bitter end. I'm spent, now go away

[spoddy]

great post, enjoyed the pics, especially the nsx. great car! getting more expensive each year though, would love a manual.

[TOOL]

It's a 12A not a 10A.

See, people do read the thread, not just look at the pictures.

[Lucky]

lol. I did actually know that, I was just very tired when I was writing it and I was thinking about something else But there you go, what's 200cc between friends anyway?

[spirit r]

just look at the pictures they are awesome enough!

[codge]

Late comment due to needing suitably quiet time to view.

My hero Nik......great reporter, great cameraman, raconteur extrodinaire.......

[myatt1972]

Does anyone else think Nik is in the wrong job ?